Stage 2, Tour de France 2018

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Stage 2 of the Tour
de France 2018 is from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain
to la
Roche-sur-Yon. This is an anti-clockwise route through the
countryside
of the Vendée (le bocage vendéen), from 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock. It's
183km, and is likely to end in a bunch sprint. Read
about Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2018
here.

Stage 2, Tour de France 2018: Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to
Montaigu

Leaving Mouilleron, Stage 2 goes east to la Châtaigneraie. (La
Châtaigneraie means chestnut wood, but the village gets its name from
the first lords here, the Chasteigner family.) The riders then head
north via Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin
to Réaumur (known for the Réaumur temperature scale - 0 to 80 degrees
for the freezing and boiling points of water - invented by René-Antoine
Ferchault de Réaumur). Next on the route is Pouzauges.
Here, the Tour
de France is in the bocage
vendéen.

From Pouzauges, the race heads north to
Saint-Michel-Mont-Mercure, the highest point of the Vendée (290m).
There's often a Category 4 climb early in the Tour, which offers
someone the chance
to take the polka-dot jersey, and it could be here. The church tower is
another 52m up. There's a golden statue of Saint Michael on top, which
is an exact replica of the one at Notre-Dame de la Fourvière in Lyon.

A few kilometres later, Stage 2 reaches les Herbiers, then it
continues north north west via la Gaubretière (known for the Massacre
of la Gaubretière in February 1794 during the War of the Vendée, in the
Revolutionary period) to Tiffauges.

From Tiffauges, the route is west to Treize-Septiers. (A
septier is a measure of grain, a quantity of about 159 litres, and a
septier of land would be the surface area required to produce a septier
of grain). It continues west to
Montaigu.

Stage 2, Tour de France 2018: Montaigu to la Roche-sur-Yon

From Montaigu, Stage 2 heads south west via
Saint-André-Treize-Voies (motto - 'Saint-André-Treize-Voies, j'y
crois') and
Mormaision (on the Guerivière, possibly meaning 'hardly a river') to
les Lucs-sur-Boulogne. (The name Lucs comes from the Gallo-Roman
period, and derives from lucus
meaning 'sacred wood'. There was an altar here, used by Celtic Druids.
During the War of the Vendée, the local people were massacred by
Republican colonnes
infernales on 28th February 1794).

Stage 2 continues south via Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche (Village of
Art, and location of a Christmas Market), Saint-Georges-de-Pointindoux,
and Sainte-Flaive-des-Loups, to Nieul-le-Dolent. Then it's
east to Aubigny.

Beyond Aubigny is Nesmy,
with its park and château, then Chaillé-sous-les Ormaux, and
Saint-Florent-des-Bois. At Saint-Florent-des-Bois, there's a sharp left
turn onto the D746, and that road takes the race towards la
Roche-sur-Yon and
the finish.

Stage 2, Tour de France 2018: the finish at la Roche-sur-Yon

The finish is at la Roche-sur-Yon. The riders arrive on the
D746, which is straight, and heads north west. It's possible that the
approach to the finish will be into a head wind, which would favour the
bunch over a breakaway rider.

According to la Roche-sur-Yon's Tour de France website, the finish in the town will take in boulevard des Etats-Unis, boulevard d'Italie, boulevard des Belges, rue Abbé Pierre-Arnaud, rue d'Arcole, rue Emile Romanet, and rue Louis-Loucheur. The finish line will be on boulevard d'Eylau, where rue Berlioz and rue d'Ulm meet it.

Stage 2, Tour de France 2018: favourites for the stage win

In the 2017 Tour de France, the peloton
kept a tight rein on any breakaways, and the flat stages always came
down to a bunch sprint. That's likely to continue, and so the question
is, who will be fastest? Fernando Gaviria is an up-and-coming sprinter,
and this could be an opportunity for the Colombian from Quick-Step
Floors.

Stage 2,
Tour de
France 2018: towns, sights and attractions

Stage 2, Tour
de France 2018: Mouilleron-Saint-Germain

Mouilleron-Saint-Germain is the result of a fusion (from 1st
January 2016) of two communes, called
Mouilleron-en-Pareds and Saint-Germain-l'Aiguiller. The main town is
Mouilleron-en-Pareds.

The Tour is visiting Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to honour the
memory of Georges Clémenceau (1841-1929), who was born and is buried
here. Clémenceau was Prime Minister from 1906-09 and 1917-20. He was
known as Père la
Victoire, and le
tigre, and he advocated a hard positon against defeated
Germany at the end of World War I, and large reparation payments.
There's a museum
dedicated to Clémenceau and another famous son of Mouilleron,
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (a French General in North Africa, and involved in the invasion of the south of France in August 1944, during World War II).

Other than the museum, the main point of interest is a hill
with two 'relatively well conserved' windmills. They would be even
better if they still had their sails.

Stage 2, Tour
de France 2018: Bocage Vendéen

Bocage is the name for a type of countryside with fields
surrounded by hedges. The most famous is the bocage of Normandie, which
the Allies had to fight their way through after the Normandy landings -
the war of the hedgerows.

The Haut Bocage around les Herbiers and Pouzauges is founded
on granite, and features hills and valleys.

Stage 2, Tour de
France 2018: Tiffauges

Tiffauges is a town at the confluence of two rivers - the
Crûme and the Sèvre nantaise. Its name comes from a Barbarian people,
the Taïfales, who established themselves here towards the end of the
Roman Empire, from around 412AD.

The château was built in the C12th by the Viscounts of
Thouars, but burned in 1569, then dismantled by royal order in 1626.

One of the businesses based in Tiffauges is Lussault, a maker
of large clocks for churches and other public buildings.

Stage 2, Tour
de France 2018: la Roche-sur-Yon

La Roche-sur-Yon is the capital (préfecture) of the
Vendée, with a population of around 53,000 people. It's on the river
Yon at its confluence with the Riaillée and the Ornay.

The HQ of the Grand Départ 2018 in the Vendée will be at la Roche-sur-Yon - it's where the team presentation will take place on Thursday 5th July, and where the race organisers will be based. There's also to be a Fan Park in the town centre from 5th to 8th July.

It was Napoléon Bonaparte who transformed la Roche-sur-Yon
from a hamlet, with a decree of 25th May 1804 which made it the capital
of the Vendée. It was in a strategic position in the centre of a
département which needed to be pacified after the War of the Vendée.
The town was built on a regular pattern of streets, in a (slightly
asymetrical) pentagon shape, around the central place Napoléon.

The town has changed name eight times altogether - for
example, it was called Napoléon under Bonaparte's Empire, and
Bourbon-Vendée during the Restoration.

There are higher education institutions in la Roche-sur-Yon,
including a branch of the University of Nantes; around 6,000 students
attend colleges here.

Industries in la Roche-sur-Yon include electrics and
electronics, manufacture of Michelin tyres, banking and commercial
services, and fish, fruit, and vegetable markets.